Wednesday, September 3, 2014

DAY 834 - Bring More People to The New Eden, The New Jerusalem (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

                 Today's Reading: Revelation 21:22-22:7

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

Please click this link to read Revelation 21:22-22:7

Bible Study

     Here in today's passage John gives us a deeper understand of the New Jerusalem and our relationship to this Holy City. 

Let's take a look at what Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
    
     It thus appears that the new Jerusalem, in John's vision, is not the whole of the new creation.  It is the centrepiece and glory of it, the fountain from which there flows freely all that the world could need.  It is the holy of holies, but actually the whole earth is to be full of God's glory, is to be the ultimate temple.  This is what is meant when John describes the servants of God and the lamb not only worshipping (verse 3), not only seeing his face (verse 4), but also reigning 'for ever and ever' (verse 5).  From the start of the book we were told that the lamb's followers were to be a royal priesthood, and now we see what this means.  It is from the city, the city which is the bride, the bride which is the lamb's followers, that healing, restorative stewardship is to follow.   This is how the creator God will show, once and for all, that his creation was good, and that he himself is full of mercy.
     John's vision, then, is of a new Eden; but it is a city, not simply a garden.  All the elements of the garden are still there, but enshrined and enhanced within and around the city. 

N.T. Wright. Revelation for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.200-201.

      Are you able to see that New Jerusalem, that New Eden with your imagination? Are you going to be willing to try all your best to bring more people to this New Jerusalem, this New Eden? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: Bring more people to the New Eden, the New Jerusalem

    What I receive from Jesus today is such a timely message that we have brought one more soul to the coming New Eden, New Jerusalem.

     Thanks for your prayers all around the world that we have enough prayer support to enter into a house full of idols, all kinds of Chinese idols that you can think of.

     It is the home of one of our parishioners, Tracy Wong parents' home. Mr. Chi Sing Wong got a very rare brain cancer a few months ago. This terrible cancer makes his whole face deformed. With your prayers, Michelle and I brought Mr. Wong with three messages from our Lord Jesus Christ in a truly miraculous way and he received Jesus as His Saviour and Lord of Life after listening to what we told him. I baptized him, he received his first communion. Then, we put the idols in two plastic bags and threw them away!

      You may want to know what the three messages were:
1. Three minutes before we arrived at Mr. Wong's home while Michelle was driving, Michelle told me, "I sense this time with a song of Sam Hui "Song of a Prodigal son" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-DmSJQWI-E
in my ear." I said, "What is it?" She sang, "命裏有時終需有, 命裏無時勿強求. If you are going to have something in your life you will have it, if your fate does not have those things you don't have to force to have those." I said, "Wow! That might be Mr. Wong's favourite song and that must be the line he was thinking about his poor fate lately."

      This is the first thing we delivered to Mr. Wong and surely that is his most favourite song and that's the line he has been thinking lately, even his wife too. Can you believe that? Three minutes before we arrived in Mr. Wong's home and Jesus gave that message to Michelle!

 2. Last week when I asked Tracy whether I could go to pray for Mr. Wong. Mr. Wong told Tracy, "What is the use of a pastor coming to pray for me. Can he gives me a piece of land for my burial?" After I heard from Tracy about his father's words, I received a message from Jesus that He is surely giving Mr. Wong a piece of land and tell me to read and explain the first three beatitudes to him:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
   for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
   For they will inherit the earth.

 I told Mr. Wong that Jesus is going to give him a piece of land, not the land for his burial but of the inheritance as a son of our Father.

 3. Jesus told me on Monday to read Revelation 21: 1 - 8 to Mr. Wong and explain to him about this passage. How Mr. Wong can be with Jesus, die the first death in a short while but not the second death.

 These are the three messages from Jesus to Mr. Wong, the second and third messages received by me a few days before our visit. The first message received by Michelle, three minutes before our visit!
This is not a single event, my brothers and sisters. This miracle is to encourage you to bring more people to the coming New Eden, the New Jerusalem. 

 I am going to have a beautiful boy's voice singing the hymn "Jerusalem" composed by one of the most famous English composer H. Parry at the end of my prayer for you to have a moment of silent to receive encouragement and words from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, personally.
    
Dear Lord Jesus,
Help us to be faithfully, willingly and courageously leading more people into the New Eden, the New Jerusalem. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.





















To me, Mr. Wong's favorite song "Song of the Prodigal Son" is somewhat like these two painting hanged in the lobby of our church, Richmond Emmanuel Church, "The Return of the Prodigal Son".



Please click this link to worship with us -
You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 
Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

This blog:
Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year
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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

DAY 833 - (English podcast click here)

-

DAY 833 - Worship And Witness (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

                  Today's Reading: Revelation 21:6-21

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

Please click this link to read Revelation 21:6-21

Bible Study

     Here in today's passage John wants us to see the New Jerusalem which replace the worldly kingdom.  

Let's take a look at what Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
    
    We have the extraordinary measurements of the city…As verse 16 makes clear, the city is not only vast in terms of its footprint - fifteen hundred miles each way, roughly the same number of square miles as the Roman empire. (That, of course, may be part of the point.)  It is also fifteen hundred miles high.  John, of course, has no thought of what kind of buildings would occupy this extraordinary structure; he is constructing a symbolic universe, not an architect's design.  The city will be an enormous, perfect cube…because that is the shape of the holy of holies at the heart of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6.20).  The whole city has become God's dwelling place, God's temple.  Or, more exactly, the very centre of God's temple, the holy of holies, the place where God dwells for ever…
     The picture we are gazing at in these chapters is certainly a vision of the ultimate future…Because the central reality of God's future is Jesus himself, and because Jesus is not merely a future reality but the one who lived and died and rose again and even now reigns in glory and hold the seven stars in his hand, the reality of the new city, though still a matter of hope, is something to be glimpsed in the present, especially in the ways sketched throughout this book:  worship and witness.  The new city is not just a dream, a comforting future fantasy.  Those who follow the lamb already belong in that city, and already have the right to walk its streets. 

N.T. Wright. Revelation for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.194-196.

      Do you have some kind of ideas of what the Holy City, the New Jerusalem will be now? As in John's time, it is as large as the Roman Empire. In our time, it is as large as any Empire you can think of. And, the central idea is that our King lives there with us! Not the Roman emperor or any kind of human king. 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: Worship and witness

    What I receive from Jesus today is the ultimate purpose of our lives as human beings: worship and witness. I have a strong sense of the wonderful way of how Bishop N.T. Wright wants us to understand this famous passage, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.

     We as human beings often worship and witness our worldly "wholly city" and witnessing our worldly "wholly city" and its king. The "wholly city" and its king demands our time, money and energy so that we can have more money, desire and power. We can see how people crazily witness what they believe in selling their own products or their own ideas wasting their whole lives and at last they start to understand that it is all meaningless. Because they or we see a false "wholly city" and not the true "Holy City"!

     The difference is who is the king living in that city? Is it Jesus the King or any other person(s) or things as king dominating, lording that city?

     Just as bishop N.T. Wright says, if you have Jesus as Lord and King you are already walking in that Holy City with Jesus each day. Can you believe that can happen? We are not there yet, but we are there already! Very mystical, right?
    
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us each day to walk with you in the Holy City. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us -
You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 
Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

This blog:
Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year
-

Monday, September 1, 2014

DAY 832 - (English podcast click here)

-

DAY 832 - I Am Making All Things New (請按此處收聼廣東話Cantonese podcast click here)

                  Today's Reading: Revelation 21:1-5

** If you would like to learn a simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please read my “Count Down 5” from my Devotion on Fire blog:
http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html
To use this simple and good way of Daily Devotion method please click this link:

Please click this link to read Revelation 21:1-5

Bible Study

     This passage shows the first time God speaks directly to John. The previous chapters God speaks through an angel or a voice from heaven. And, the message God gives to John is all about newness. 

Let's take a look at what Bishop N.T. Wright says (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._T._Wright ) :
    
    When has there been a moment in your life when you have said to yourself, 'This is new'?  I don't just mean a car with a few new gadgets, or a meal with a different combination of sauces and seasonings - though these, too, may point in the right direction.  I'm thinking more of major life-experiences in which we think to ourselves, 'Everything is going to be different now.  This is quite new.  This is a whole new world opening up.'
     Such experiences might well include some major life-events: birth, marriage, full recovery from a long and dangerous illness, the experience of someone new coming to live with you.  All these, interestingly, feature in the list of images which John uses as he builds up this breathtaking picture of the new heaven and new earth.  'I will be his God and he shall be my son' (verse 7): a final new birth…
    The new heaven and new earth will be new in a new way; newness itself will be renewed, so that instead of a mere transition within ongoing human life, what God has planned will be the renewal of all things.  'Look,' he said, 'I am making all things new.'

N.T. Wright. Revelation for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.186-187.

      Satan has been trying his best to stop us entering into this kind of newness prepared by God Himself. Now Satan and his dark angles have gone. And God's people can enter into this newness. You should be able to enter into this newness, right? But, how many of your relatives and friends will be in the lake of fire due to your laziness and unwillingness to be used by God to bring more people into this newness? 

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

Spiritual Journal

    The title I heard from Jesus today is: I am making all things new

    What I receive from Jesus today is a very timely personal message. Why? Because in five days time our family will enter into a newness that we have waited for so long. Our elder son Ignatius is going to marry Anna Suk this Saturday. After their honey moon they are going to live with us. And, yesterday, our People's Warden, Gavin Siu announced in all three services that Ignatius has been hired as our new Family Pastor and will start his new job October 1. So many new things are coming to us in such a short time. Never before! How about you? Waiting for some newness to come?

     Wow! Jesus reminded me of the famous hymn "Great is Thy faithfulness" and asked me to share the story to you all so that you can be in His newness everyday waiting for the final newness to come. Here is the story:  

 Thomas Obadiah Chisolm (1866-1960) had a difficult adult life. His health was so fragile that there were periods of time when he was confined to bed, unable to work. Between bouts of illness he would have to push himself to put in extra hours at various jobs in order to make ends meet.

After coming to Christ at age 27, Thomas found great comfort in the Scriptures, and in the fact that God was faithful to be his strength in time of illness and provide his needs. Lamentations 3:22-23 was one of his favorite scriptures: “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.”

While away from home on a missions trip, Thomas often wrote to one of his good friends, William Runyan, a relatively unknown musician. Several poems were exchanged in these letters. Runyan found one of Williams' poems so moving that he decided to compose a musical score to accompany the lyrics. Great is Thy Faithfulness was published in 1923.

For several years ,the hymn got very little recognition, until it was discovered by a Moody Bible Institute professor who loved it so much and requested it sung so often at chapel services, that the song became the unofficial theme song of the college.

It was not until 1945 when George Beverly Shea began to sing Great is Thy Faithfulness at the Billy Graham evangelistic crusades, that the hymn was heard around the world. 

Thomas Chisolm died in 1960 at age 94. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 1,200 poems and hymns including O To Be Like Thee and Living for Jesus.

     May you be encouraged and be willing joyfully enter into God's newness each day!
    
Dear Lord Jesus,
Lead us each day to taste the freshness and sweetness of your newness each day. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.


Please click this link to worship with us -
You may choose to follow my other daily blog: 
Daily Devotion on Fire 2(2 years plan -One year New Testament, one year Old Testament): 

Daily Devotion on Fire (3 years and 3 months plan, one chapter a day to finish reading the whole Bible): 

Break.Build (40 days daily devotion- For Renewal or First Step for new Christians): http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/

Emmanuel330 (40 weeks First Step Bible Study): 

This blog:
Discipler 123 (Daily devotion using N.T. Wright's NT for Everyone as source)


Rev. Nicky Gumbel's daily devotion: Bible in One Year
-
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